Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews
High Blood Pleasure (1945) - Schilling & Lane
Paul Pain:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146881/
HIGH BLOOD PLEASURE was the first film for the Schilling & Lane comedy team. I warn you that the first reel of this one is in poor condition.
Gus Schilling got his first major Hollywood attention from Orson Welles, who saw him in a performance. Welles was so impressed that he followed Schilling to Florida in order to offer him a position in his Shakespearean troupe. Schilling even appears in five of Welles's films, including CITIZEN KANE. Sadly, Schilling passed from a heart attack when he was just 48 years old.
Richard "Dick" Lane was a Vaudevillian comedian who is best known for being an announcer for wrestling, roller derby, and midget car racing in the Los Angeles area... he's even in the Roller Derby Hall of Fame! As an actor, Lane is best known for his roles in Columbia's Boston Blackie films.
From the very first second, you would be convinced that Gus and Dick were long-time partners of comedy. I have never seen two comedians work so well together with no prior experience. This is important for the flow of the entire short. If it wasn't obvious from the first 2 minutes, Gus always plays a nervous-type character and Dick is always the conniving boss-type.
This short relies mostly on verbal humor, and this short is almost overstuffed. Puns and jokes, especially death jokes, just rapidly flow one right after another non-stop until the finish. I have my opinions on which other comedians or comedy teams would do well in this short, but it requires an ability to handle an extremely fast pace. The ending even makes a good use of the "angry person fire at someone's arse" gag.
The short has a decent plot and is a rework of a lost Collins & Kennedy short, JUST SPEEDING. The cast is all solid, especially Vernon Dent as the macabre surgeon. We get a host of other Columbia standards: Cy Schindell, Symona Boniface, and more. Overall, this is a really funny short from start to finish and is worth your time.
metaldams:
This short is excellent and has a FROM NURSE TO WORSE fast paced feel to it. It helps the comedians, especially Schilling, are pretty high strung. I can easily picture The Three Stooges handling this material, all the way down to poor Johnny Kascier getting knocked down in the hallway multiple times.
Some of the more domesticated stuff Columbia does works occasionally, but this fast paced stuff with screwy comedians really is what Columbia does best. The pacing of this thing just zips along from one bit to the other and I highly recommend checking it out. Hopefully other shorts in the series will be this good.
Paul Pain:
--- Quote from: metaldams on April 27, 2021, 07:07:04 PM ---This short is excellent and has a FROM NURSE TO WORSE fast paced feel to it. It helps the comedians, especially Schilling, are pretty high strung. I can easily picture The Three Stooges handling this material, all the way down to poor Johnny Kascier getting knocked down in the hallway multiple times.
Some of the more domesticated stuff Columbia does works occasionally, but this fast paced stuff with screwy comedians really is what Columbia does best. The pacing of this thing just zips along from one bit to the other and I highly recommend checking it out. Hopefully other shorts in the series will be this good.
--- End quote ---
Unfortunately, there's only one more short left in this series that is available for us to review. Only the last one of the Schilling & Lane shorts is lost, but only 3 are available on YouTube.
Paul Pain:
I have never before seen (on here) such a lack of interest in discussing any comedy team.
HomokHarcos:
I've finally finished my overtime, I'll get to these comedies. I really look forward to watching them.
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